World Ice Art Championships

Ice harvesting for this year's World Ice Art Championships began in late January at O’Grady Pond. Volunteers for the 22nd Ice Alaska extravaganza removed blocks of ice daily for the show which opened February 22nd and continues through March 27th. Ice is removed at the end of January, before it becomes too thick.

Artists from Alaska, the Lower 48 and over a dozen other countries are competing this year, including China, Russia, Japan and Mongolia. .

Volunteers collected 150 large ice blocks; some of them measuring 5' x 8' x 3'. Each block harvested from the on-site pond weighs more than 4,000 pounds. Ice has been harvested from O'Grady pond since the first ice art championship dating back to the late 1980's.

800 to 900 blocks, or approximately 3.5 to 4 million pounds of ice, are extracted from the pond before volunteers are finished harvesting. Some of the blocks (about 100) are set aside and stored during the summer at the park. The ice inventory will then be ready for carving early next winter before the ice gets thick enough for harvesting.

Best of all, it's right here, in Fairbanks. IceAlaska.com

The World Ice Art Championships are open daily during the competition. The best time to go is about a half hour before sunset, so that the displays can be enjoyed as they become illuminated. It's also good to go early into the competitions, as temperatures can reach 34 above during the day and signs of melting, wear and breakage may occur (as seen in my last photo).